Public Lab is an open community -- you're welcome to simply sign up and start contributing in a variety of ways. If you are interested in a more formal collaboration, just ask staff@publiclab.org. ###Some ways to be a part of the community:### * email the list to say hello, describe your interests, and offer your skills to existing projects * ask for help with a public science issue and reach out for collaborators * post a research note describing the starting point for your project * post a research note describing new developments in your project * add to the knowledge base in Public Lab by editing pages (most are editable by any [registered user](/user/register), wiki-style) * connect with or organize a [local group](/places) to investigate environmental, social, and other issues in a participatory way * contribute to better [documentation](/wiki/guides) (tutorials, diagrams, even just offering critique) of the [tools](/tools) we all use * co-author [articles & papers](/media) (in research journals, newspaper op-eds, magazines, etc) with other community members * co-author grants for research and for working with specific communities * adopt and contribute to units of our curriculum (mainly the [mapping curriculum](/wiki/mapping-curriculum) at this point) in universities, schools, and public workshops -- use some of our resources and add your own. Also see the [guides](/wiki/guides) we're starting to develop for our tools. ###Areas we need specific help in:### * organizing meetups with residents in our [partner communities](/places) to test new tools and gather data with proven ones * developing better and more comprehensive documentation & tutorials around our existing tools * archiving and publishing consistent data sets (from spreadsheets and geotiffs to interviews with community members) * outreach to research, policy, and legal institutions (Environmental Law Clinics, for example) to get our data adopted and used